Hold Your Head High, Stick Your Chest Out
by Hannahmayski
Summary: Kiba is all of six years old when he realises that the Inuzuka aren't seen as important as the other big clans. (Day 4 of Kiba Week)


**Kiba Week Day 4— Clan pride/Confidence, 'cuz he knows who he is and he is proud of it, so let's all help Kiba show off some more!**

 **Summary: Kiba is all of six years old when he realises that the Inuzuka aren't seen as important as the other big clans. (sorry for any errors!)**

Kiba is all of six years old when he realises that the Inuzuka aren't seen as important as the other big clans like the Aburame, the Hyuuga, the Uchiha and the Akimichi.

He realises this when he's playing on the playground and he sees the Hyuuga decorated in their regal clothing, pristine as always and later he will learn it was a miracle the Hyuuga were out there at all.

He turns back to Tsume for guidance, but she doesn't see him, instead engaged in an in-depth conversation with his aunty.

He hasn't made a single friend yet and there's a little girl in the playground standing on her own. Kiba meanders over, wringing his dirty hands together and wondering what on earth he should say.

The girl has big eyes that Kiba thinks are a little off-putting, but she looks just as unnerved about trying to talk to the other kids as Kiba feels, so he takes a breath and wonders over.

He carefully sits down next to her, being careful not to mark her pretty dress with his dirty hands from wrestling with Hana that morning.

She looks at him, a small smile slowly and hesitantly gracing her lips and that's all the encouragement Kiba needs.

"I'm Kiba!" he says, pointing his thumb at himself and puffing out his chest.

She jumps at his loud voice, her tiny hand automatically gripping at the front of her dress.

She opens her mouth to reply when there is a hand roughly lifting her up by the arm. She stumbles at the sudden, rough movement. The woman with the same eerily misty eyes shuffles her away from the playground, sending Kiba disdainful glances all the way.

For a moment, Kiba doesn't know what to do. He did everything his Ma had told him to do. He was careful not to get in anyone's personal bubble and he made sure not to get her clothes dirty. All he'd done was introduced himself and he still got it wrong. The girl turns back to face him and sends a tiny, hesitant wave before the woman scolds her for it.

Kiba watches her go until he can no longer see her and feels his eyes begin to water, tears on the verge of falling. He frantically wipes at them, smearing small streaks of dirt across his face. He can't make friends and this time he doesn't even know what he did wrong.

He just wants someone to play with, someone to run with. He's not old enough to get a ninken and he's too useless to make any friends.

Kiba opens his eyes and sees Tsume walking towards him, looking furious and Kiba doesn't know what to do with himself. He tries so hard, but he always ends up scaring people off, but he's trying so hard, and he doesn't want to get yelled at.

Tsume squats in front of him, her large, calloused hand cups Kiba's cheek. "Hey, pup," she says, wiping the tears from his face. "Don't cry, it's not your fault."

Kiba sniffs and looks up, face contorted in confusion. "Huh?" he asks and Tsume glances in the direction where the woman took the little girl, the anger and fury Kiba saw before resurfacing. "They don't like us, they've all got sticks up their asses so don't worry about it."

"Oh," Kiba says. He looks in the direction they left and can't help but feel sorry for the little girl. He's not sure why, but she just seemed so nice.

Tsume pulls back and stands up, offering her hand to him and he takes it, squeezing tight.

"Don't worry about it squirt," she says, and for a while, Kiba does as she says.

Kiba is in the academy.

Iruka is teaching clan history and so far all the clan kids seem to be agreeing with what Iruka is saying.

Eventually, Iruka arrives at the Inuzuka and Kiba leans forward in his seat, scratching behind Akamaru's ears and a grin forming on his lips. The smile fades rapidly as Iruka recounts his incorrect knowledge of his beloved clan. "There isn't much to say about the Inuzuka," he says. "They were last to join Konoha and there is not much information on them…"

Iruka trails off as he sees Kiba's hand shoot up, and Iruka blinks at him, obviously taken aback. "Yes, Kiba?" he asks, a little cautiously. And Kiba knows it's not Iruka's fault for not knowing much information but it's his clan, his entire life and there is so much more to the Inuzuka than what anyone seems to realise, so much more complicated than what anyone seems willing to learn about.

There's a pleather of information on the other clans, and Kiba is tired of no one even trying to learn more about his clan. The Inuzuka are amazing and complicated and have a long, long interesting history, yet all people tend to see is a clan that's too loud, too rowdy, too untamed.

"The Inuzuka have been around long before any other clan, the only reason we're not as well-known is because the Inuzuka were only in a few wars before the Warring States period, and none during it, so no one mentioned us in their writing. We kept to ourselves, but we're the oldest clan, there's a lot of information if you just ask." Kiba knows he's let a bit too much heat into his words, a bit too much anger. He's a bit too loud, a bit too weird and a bit too rowdy, but that's who he is.

No one in his clan is known for sitting down and quietly taking whatever people throw at them and Kiba isn't about to start now.

"Thank you, Kiba," he says, wary, and Kiba wants to say more, but Hinata reaches over from her seat and tugs on his sleeve. He hesitates a moment, but she looks at him, understanding, but supportive.

He sits down and Shino's hand finds his shoulder, a silent support.

His hand finds Akamaru's fur again, soothing his frustrated, angry whines.

It doesn't ease the frustrated ache in his chest, but he doesn't know what else to do.

Kiba is midst the Fourth Shinobi War and he finds that he doesn't care about much beyond getting Akamaru, Hinata and Shino out of the ordeal out alive.

It's the night of the first day and Kiba is tired. Tired of seeing the bodies of the allied shinobi force strewn across the ground, limbs bent at awkward angles, eyes staring up at nothing. His hand is gripped in Akamaru's fur and his senses are strained to their absolute limit.

There could be more Zetsu clones, and really what a perfect time to strike again - at night when everyone's exhausted. The Zetsu clones don't smell like humans. Their scent is all the same and not easy to identify at first. But Kiba has had plenty of time to learn their smell. There isn't a scent that will get past him.

Kiba is so engrossed in his watch that it takes him a moment longer than he likes to realise that he's been joined by another. Immediately Kiba realises the shinobi isn't a Konoha-nin and is a Suna-nin.

She shoots him a small, exhausted smile and looks over at Akamaru. "Can I give him a pat?" she asks. There's a small amount of desperation to her voice that Kiba can completely understand. It's been only a day and there are so many dead. Any distraction is a good distraction.

Kiba glances at Akamaru and he responds by letting out a little whine in her direction. He gets it, it seems, that almost everyone can find comfort in a dog.

Kiba nods, and her smile widens, and she carefully manoeuvres herself to sit next to Akamaru, her shoulder is touching Kiba's and for some reason the simple contact has him breathing easier and he consciously takes a measured breath.

"You're an Inuzuka, yes?" she asks, not looking at him and instead, taking great care in scratching Akamaru behind his ears.

"Yeah, I am," he says. He can't smell a single thing out there other than the nearly overpowering stench of death that he's slowly getting used to. A little conversation won't hurt as long as he doesn't take all of his attention away from sensing oncoming danger.

She scratches her nose roughly, contorting her face in the process. "Your clan is just interesting, that's all. There aren't many where every member is bonded so closely with ninken or something similar. You can't compare this to summoning either. It's special."

She's running her hands through Akamaru's fur, grinning at his pleased little whines. "Maybe I'm just a little jealous."

Kiba finds himself smiling as well. "I guess we are special."

Kiba watches the two interact and absently rubs at the tattoos on his face, pride filling his chest.

Kiba's faced a lot of pure ignorance and disdain because of his clan origins, and maybe that's stemmed from stereotypes and a lack of understanding about the clan itself.

He looks at Akamaru who nudges his foot in that mind-reading way of understanding they've always had between them. Kiba will just have to teach people differently then, it seems.


End file.
